Vandenberg Air Force Base firefighter Erin Butler ascends three flights of stairs in full gear, breathing apparatus and all. Sweating and straining, she carries one bundled 42-pound fire hose over her shoulder to the top of the five-story structure, and hoists another from the ground to the roof.
She races down the stairs to tag a fellow firefighter, Matt Stevens, who maneuvers through a serpentine obstacle course while hauling an extremely weighty—and fully operational—hose.
Once to the finish line, he sprays a target, and defers to teammate Andrew Klein, who bear hugs a 175-pound dummy and pulls it backward 100 feet across the pavement while the rest of the crew cheers him on.
This team relay may not be a matter of life and death, but it’s no simple game either.
“This is a really aggressive workout, and only the best of the best can do this,” Klein said. “When guys go, they’re tired. It’s everything you do on a real fire ground but in a short amount of time.”
Vandenberg’s crew—made up of five men and two women—is practicing every other week on base to improve their times in
what they call “the toughest two minutes
in sports”: the Firefighter Combat Challenge. The series of six linked stations incorporates real-life scenarios and lifesaving techniques in a competition open to any department in the country. Both teams and individuals compete.
New to the sport, the Vandenberg relay team performed well in their first-ever competition on July 18 in Fremont. They finished sixth out of 12 crews from across the state and country, qualifying them for the World Championships in Las Vegas on Nov. 14.
Individually, Klein won first place out of 25 amateurs from Northern California.
“That’s the most nervous thing: first thing in the morning going against guys you’ve never met before at a serious competition,” Klein said. “It was quite a relief to get it done, because you could see all the other teammates go and cheer them on. It’s the best thing to do, to get paid to do something we love.”
To the firefighters, the challenge is fun with a purpose. Training for the fast-paced, high-stress event builds strength and endurance for a job that relies on power and speed.
Stevens said the challenge mirrors what happens in a real emergency. The more the team practices together, he said, the better the crew’s camaraderie.
“The fact that we get a chance to work out towards a goal like this helps out on any response we’d get because we’d be that much more prepared,” Stevens said.
The team is a mix of military and civilian firefighters. Lamont Brown, one of two active military members on the squad, said the accuracy and attention to detail necessary for a speedy time only comes as the result of them all being on the same page.
“We’re all very athletic and very good at our jobs as firefighters,” Brown said. “We spend a lot of time together naturally, so that just makes us gel together.”
The former high school football player said competing in the event gives him the same feeling he used to get before a big game.
“Even though we’re professional firefighters, it’s extremely competitive,” Brown said. “It is a sport. The guys that do this nationally are athletes.”
Most of the top national teams can complete the course in less than two minutes. Team captain Lt. Manny Villegas said he’d like Vandenberg’s squad to finish the relay in less than 1:20.
To achieve that time, he’s focused on improving the team’s footing and placement, and training them to battle against the dreaded fatigue factor.
“I just want us to get faster and have everybody stay enjoying it like they have been,” Villegas said. “I don’t want it to become like a job. I just want to make sure to keep it fun.”
Villegas said every firefighter should run the course at least once in his or her career. He brought the challenge to the Vandenberg department, previously competing in the event while at Whiteman Air Force Base in 2006.
“I exposed them to it, and now they’re all hooked and want more of it,” he said. “It’s good because it’s very positive. There’s nothing negative about it, except maybe feeling like you didn’t do as well as you could have.”
According to Klein, the team is looking forward to proving themselves in Vegas and making the community and the base proud.
“We’re doing everything we can to better ourselves and grow as a team,” he said, “and kick butt.”
Staff Writer Jeremy Thomas daily battles with the dreaded fatigue factor. Contact him at jthomas@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 6-13, 2009.
